Materialism, status signaling, and product satisfaction

The consumer satisfaction literature has not, for the mos part, integrated individual values into the product evaluation process. Yet a comprehensive understanding of consumer satisfaction can best be attained by including both consumer and product factors. To demonstrate the usefulness of including individual values, this research focuses on one consumer value, namely, materialism. The authors empirically explore how this individual value is linked to consumers’ evaluations of products they have purchased. Using surveys, the authors collected data from a sample of college students (n=211) and a sample of adults (n=270). Across these two studies, using divergent samples and products, they find consistent evidence that materialism is negatively related to product satisfaction in product categories with high potential for status signaling, but unrelated to product satisfaction in product categories with lower potential for status signaling. The consumption goals that produce these product evaluations are empirically addressed Jeff Wang (jianfeng76@yahoo.com; PhD, City University of Hong Kong) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Faculty of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. This work was conducted when he was a doctoral student of marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. His research interests include social networks and consumer behavior, consumer satisfaction and well-being, materialism and consumption meanings, and consumer interests and public policy issues. His dissertation studies credit card debt as a socially embedded phenomenon and investigates how consumers leverage their interpersonal ties as they accumulate and repay their debt. Melanie Wallendorf (mwallendorf@eller.arizona.edu) is Soldwedel Professor of Marketing in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. She holds an MS in sociology and a PhD in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her articles on the sociocultural aspects of consumption have been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Advertising and Society Review, Addiction, Journal of Macromarketing, andAmerican Behavioral Scientist, among others. Her coauthored article on “The Sacred and Profane in Consumer Behavior” won theJournal of Consumer Research Best Article Award in 1992. Her research has been featured in theWall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Demographics, andFortune, and has been funded by the Marketing Science Institute, the Arizona Disease Control Research Commission, and the Office of Earth Science at NASA.     

论会计稳健原则

遵循稳健原则是财务会计界处理不确定性经济业务长期以来形成的惯例,至今仍然影响着会计中资产的计价和收益的确定.然而,人们对其在会计系统中的地位的质疑从来就没有停止过,尤其在会计实务中的运用,对稳健原则谋求变革的呼声甚高.稳健原则究竟何去何从?如何认识其新的时代内涵?以及在我国企业中何以实现适度稳健?本文拟作初步探讨,作抛砖引玉之用.     

利用多媒体技术提高实验课有效教学的探讨

教育在推进人类社会文明的进程中，不断汲取、运用现代化教学手段，进行有效教学，培养人才。文章提出了什么是有效教学，并对传统教学方式与多媒体教学方式进行比较，探索了如何利用现代化教学手段一多媒体技术，设计教学过程，提高实验课有效教学的方法和思路。     

保险人与保险中介协同竞争的博弈均衡分析

由于保险市场的不确定性,为求得生存与发展,采取协同竞争策略是保险人与保险中介在博弈中的最优选择。当参与人之间存在信息不对称时,协同竞争体现为激励机制选择。利益分配机制是协同竞争的基本前提之一,解决利益分配机制不畅的通常手段是运用委托—代理理论来设计一个激励契约,以诱使保险中介从自身利益出发选择对保险人最有利的行动。     

中心城市商务成本比较分析——一个国际视角

本文以商务成本框架为基础,以世界发达国家及中心城市商务成本为参照,测算了我国中心城市北京和上海的商务成本,并与国际中心城市商务成本进行了比较。研究发现,劳动力成本是影响商务成本最重要的因素。本文认为,我国的劳动力成本低,从而具有一定的商务成本优势,但劳动力以外的其他商务成本要素并不低。因此,我国可以适当提高工资水平,从而改善人们的生活质量,但同时要降低其他影响投资地选择的成本因素。     

论信息配置和传媒运作与老工业基地振兴

信息与传媒已经成为现代社会的重要构成和基本支撑.信息资源的配置能力是执政能力的重要组成,各种传媒形式的合理运作是信息资源有效配置的关键.我们必须充分珍视信息资源,有效利用传媒工具,使信息配置和传媒运作与国家的发展战略相配合,为老工业基地的振兴服务.     

论高校思想政治工作中的语言艺术

对于高校思想政治工作者来说,动用好语言艺术,是做好师生思想政治工作的前提条件.本文主要从五个方面阐述了思想政治工作对语言艺术的要求,从而进一步说明了语言艺术在高校思想政治工作中的重要作用.     

关于构建和谐社会的文化思考

和谐社会始终是人类孜孜以求的一个社会理想。和谐社会就是在法律和道德的约束下，以人为中心，人、自然与社会的协调统一。构建社会主义和谐社会，需要精神支撑、公平正义、人文关怀、体制保证。     

货币升值对不同产业就业的影响——对亚洲八国汇率与就业关系的经验分析

为了研究人民币升值可能对中国各产业就业影响,且避免单独研究中国数据所产生的局限性,本文选取八个亚洲主要国家和地区的数据,利用面板数据模型进行实证分析。实证结果显示汇率升值将对制造业的就业产生负效应,而对第三产业的效应为正,按照该结果,人民币升值将会给中国本已严峻的就业形势带来更大的压力。根据中国各产业就业形势的当前状况及发展趋势,解决中国就业问题的根本出路在于大力发展第三产业。     

Strategic profiles and performance: An empirical test of select key propositions

Competing theories on internal orientation versus external orientation are examined. The relevant theories are amalgamated and condensed into a number of competing propositions that are empirically tested. The findings suggest that the internally oriented businesses as well as the externally oriented businesses underperform the efficient, marketing oriented businesses.